Obama, Oops…Six Times

While working for the people in IL Obama preferred voting present (130 times) then to stick his neck out and commit on a piece of legislation. Maybe he always had plans to run for president and needed to hide some of his true feelings. I have no idea. Why bother running for a seat if your not going to use your voting powers? At least 36 of those times he was either the only senator voting present or was part of a small group of up to 6 voting present.

Then comes the times he mistakenly voted wrong. Oops.How this happens, I have no idea. If a man can’t tell the difference between a no button and a yes button, its kinda scary he is the one who pushes the nuke button. (figuratively speaking)

Here are the six mistaken votes.

Barack Obama angered fellow Democrats in the Illinois Senate when he voted to strip millions of dollars from a child welfare office on Chicago’s West Side. But Obama had a ready explanation: He goofed.

“I was not aware that I had voted no,” he said that day in June 2002, asking that the record be changed to reflect that he “intended to vote yes.” Oops.

On March 19, 1997, he announced he had fumbled an election-reform vote the day before, on a measure that passed 51 to 6: “I was trying to vote yes on this, and I was recorded as a no,” he said. The next day, he acknowledged voting “present” on a key telecommunications vote. Oops.

He stood on March 11, 1999, to take back his vote against legislation to end good-behavior credits for certain felons in county jails. “I pressed the wrong button on that,” he said. Oops.

Obama was the lone dissenter on Feb. 24, 2000, against 57 yeas for a ban on human cloning. “I pressed the wrong button by accident,” he said. Oops.

But two of Obama’s bumbles came on more-sensitive topics. On Nov. 14, 1997, he backed legislation to permit riverboat casinos to operate even when the boats were dockside.

The measure, pushed by the gambling industry and fought by church groups whose support Obama was seeking, passed with two “yeas” to spare — including Obama’s. Moments after its passage he rose to say, “I’d like to be recorded as a no vote,” explaining that he had mistakenly voted for it. Oops.

On June 11, 2002, Obama’s vote sparked a confrontation after he joined Republicans to block Democrats trying to override a veto by GOP Gov. George Ryan of a $2-million allotment for the west Chicago child welfare office.

A fellow Democrat suddenly seethed with anger. “You got a lot of nerve to talk about being responsible,” said Sen. Rickey Hendon, accusing Obama of voting to close the child welfare office.

Obama replied right away. “I understand Sen. Hendon’s anger. . . . I was not aware that I had voted no on that last — last piece of legislation,” he said. Obama asked that the record reflect that he meant to vote yes. Then he requested that Hendon “ask me about a vote before he names me on the floor.” Oopsy daisy.

Sen. Hendon says he can understand someone mistakenly voting wrong however he has never done it.